Rotten Barrel Spoils the Apples: How Situational Factors Contribute to Detention Officer Abuse Toward Inmates--A Review of the Lucifer Effect, by Philip Zimbardo

• NCJ Number: 226287
• Journal: The Prison Journal Volume: 89 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2009 Pages: 70S-80S
• Author(s): Arthur J. Lurigio
• Date Published: March 2009
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Case Study
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For additional articles in this special issue see NCJ-226283-86

Annotation

This article reviews “The Lucifer Effect” (Phillip Zimbardo, 2007), which addresses the malleability of human nature in its rapid change from civility to malevolence.

Abstract

The book takes the reader on journeys through two prisons, one that is simulated and constructed for scientific exploration and the other a real prison built for political oppression, torture, murder, and other crimes against humanity. The simulated prison was envisioned in the basement of Stanford University’s Psychology Building; and the second prison was built 20 miles west of Bagdad during the regime of Saddam Hussein; however, the atrocities at the latter prison, called Abu Ghraib, were not committed by Saddam‘s henchmen but by American soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company and by members of the American intelligence community. At the heart of “The Lucifer Effect” is a chronology of the Stanford Prison Experiment, which is a case study that illustrates the overriding “power of the situation” to transform “good citizens” into “evil doers.” The book provides an empirical glimpse into the disturbing mistreatment of student “prisoners” at the hands of the student “guards.” Perhaps the book’s most valuable contributions are the parallels drawn between the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Abu Ghraib atrocities, in which young men and women of the military were conditioned to engage in wanton acts of abuse and torture through systemic and situational influences. The second half of The Lucifer Effect presents an investigation into the incidents at Abu Ghraib that leads to the indictment and conviction of the U.S. Military, the Department of Defense, and ultimately the commander-in-chief for creating the conditions that allowed such horrific acts to occur. Zimbardo refers to these failures collectively as “administrative evil.” This article draws from the book seven lessons for America’s prison administrators. 7 references